Question of the Day

Have you been impacted by the government shutdown?

Nobles: The Lady Terps, for their first-ever NCAA National Championship.

While the men’s NCAA tournament sputtered to a lackluster end Monday night, the women charged to a spectacular overtime finish, with Maryland overtaking Duke 78-75. Adding to the moment Tuesday at TD Banknorth Garden in Boston was that it was the Terrapins’ first appearance in the championship game. One for one isn’t too shabby.

“I didn’t have to say a word to them before overtime,” said coach Brenda Frese after the game. “They know it’s their time.”

If that was the case, it sure didn’t come easy for the Lady Terps. In the final seconds of regulation, freshman Kristi Toliver, who missed eight of her nine first-half shots, sunk a three-pointer, capping a 13-point comeback and putting the game into overtime. Toliver would again hit two critical free-throws with 34.2 seconds on the clock to seal the victory.

Considering the Terps entered the season having lost 12 consecutive games to Duke, Tuesday’s come-from-behind victory proved to be more than a championship. It proved the Lady Terps are the new Queens of the Atlantic Coast Conference. With two freshman, including Toliver, and two sophomores in the starting lineup, this first national championship looks like just the beginning.

For a well-deserved victory, the Lady Terps are the Nobles of the week.

Knaves: NBC’s “Dateline,” for fabricating the news, and stereotyping an entire segment of Americana.

If one was to find anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States, where would one go to look? This was the question “Dateline” producers pondered for an upcoming show. The answer apparently, as Michelle Malkin reported on her blog, is a NASCAR racetrack. So the producers decided to recruit willing Muslims to be filmed at a race. After all, Southern white males are, if anything, bigots who hate everyone else not like them.

The only problem, as several readers who attended the race at Martinsville Speedway, Va., told Mrs. Malkin, is that the Muslims weren’t bothered at all. Guess there’s always a rodeo in Texas to send them to.

NASCAR, however, wasn’t too thrilled with NBC, which has televised races for years, for attempting to entrap their fans. “It’s outrageous that a news organization like NBC would seek to create the news instead of reporting the news,” said a NASCAR spokesman. That’s what happens when producers “report” their own bias.

For seeking bigotry where none exists, “Dateline” producers are the Knaves of the week.